Entropy

Relax in southern comfort on the east bank of the Mississippi. You're just around the corner from Beale Street and Sun Records. Watch the ducks, throw back a few and tell us what's on your mind.
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JR.
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Re: Entropy

Post by JR. »

mediatechnology wrote: Mon Jul 23, 2018 1:22 pm Go spray the garden hose on it for a couple of minutes to get it started curing.
I have hit it twice with a light soak from my watering can... I expect the humidity in the mid to high 50s to make it's way through the paper bag even without rain. The outer layer of cement was already rigid to the touch when I brought it out of the air conditioned store. :oops:
You remind me that my neighbor needs to call City of Dallas Trinity Watershed Management and have them clear the culvert down the street.
Your is nice and clean compared to this one.
I pay attention to my culverts because without good drainage I would be underwater. The culvert at the end of my far back ditch collects trash. Not on my property, but the standing water is. I once pulled a 5 gallon bucket from inside that culvert that was barely bigger than the bucket.

During one storm a huge tree limb got stuck in the front pipe going under my driveway, then more branches and trash completely blocked that pipe. I noticed when I happened to see an odd flow pattern of water going across my front yard from left to right (uphill), around the side and into the back ditch, only to return the front culvert using to my hydraulic improvement.

When I free'd the stuck tree limb, there was A huge sucking sound as proper drainage was restored. 8-)
Yesterday it was 111°F at the nearby airport: http://w1.weather.gov/data/obhistory/KRBD.html
Maybe we'll get some rain soon.
My water bill is ridiculous.
My water bill is $14.75 a month up to X thousand gallons, and it is against my religion to help grass grow even faster. The only times I bumped the nominal water usage was when my water main sprung a leak. :oops: and when a bypass/relief valve in my RO filter was dumping too much water.

In all honesty I did water my new grass seed a decade ago after the bulldozer rearranged my yard, just to get the new grass established.
Image
Can you imagine anyone living in the south without air conditioning (I can't)? I can exercise and do physical work in the heat, but I absolutely can not do brain work in the heat, even with copious chilled beverages (beer).

JR

PS: My electronic outdoor thermometer was reading up around 105-110' before I moved it around to the front of the house shaded inside an evergreen.. reading a cool 93' right now but a couple hours before max temps of the day. When I ride my bike on paved roads it can be well warmer that reported air temps. I need to avoid riding over melted tar because then my sticky tires pick up pebbles. :lol:
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JR.
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Re: Entropy

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JR. wrote: Mon Jul 23, 2018 1:16 pm Image

of course it hasn't rained since I put the dry concrete in the ground.... after raining almost daily for weeks. No rain forecast until maybe Wednesday and then only tenths.

JR
Still hasn't rained.....
P1010278.JPG
Picked up some more cement ... not quite local, but only 10 miles in the other direction, from the big city (Meridian).

Not as cheap as Lowes. $18 for 4x40# quasi local vs. $15 for 4x50# from the big city. Almost makes the ride worth it.

Now I need some small rains to set this, before the next big rain... I have hit it with my watering can and feel lucky.

JR

[update] after almost two weeks had our first rain... not even enough to register in my rain gauge but better than drought [/update]
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JR.
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Re: Entropy

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Well I guess my cement induced drought has ended. :lol:
P1010282.jpg
2" of rain in less than an hour filled my 3' pipe half way. Not really bumping my new concrete reinforcement, but Ii notice some more turbulence eddies and erosion just to the left of the pipe... After it dries I will look at maybe adding a sack of cement mix there.

So far so good. I love it when a plan comes together. 8-)

JR
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mediatechnology
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Re: Entropy

Post by mediatechnology »

I saw that a neighbor had set out two sacks of concrete by the curb for bulk pickup today.
I thought of you and where I might need those two sacks of concrete.

We got about 1/4" rain yesterday. That's it for about 10 days but our temps are "down" to the 90s.
I feel fall in the air. LOL.
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JR.
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Re: Entropy

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After the rain stopped I went out and checked and the left side of the culvert is fine... so no more concrete needed for now.

I feel lucky. Like a politician I don't need to worry past a few years. :lol:

JR
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Gold
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Re: Entropy

Post by Gold »

I fixed my generator that runs the well pump. It conked out last October. We had guests in November so I couldn’t deal with it. We didn’t go over the winter. I checked the fuel and oil lines and cleaned the air filter last year. I didn’t have a spark plug wrench so I couldn’t check that. When NAPA didn’t have a replacement I just got a wrench and pulled the spark plug. The gap was black with carbon. I cleaned it with a wire brush and viola, Lester Hill water is flowing again. Man that water tastes good. I put new oil in for good measure too.
emrr
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Re: Entropy

Post by emrr »

This week the trusty control room chair finally failed from metal fatigue, dropped me off to the rear and at an angle suddenly. Kinda funny in front of clients.

Then the alarm system freaked out, probably from a nearby lightning strike.

Fired up a old octal tube preamp that's been one of my favorites for tracking vocals, it's been intermittent for awhile with no obvious solution. I think I've reached the point that I have to swap out a tube socket to see if that's the problem.
Best,

Doug Williams
Electromagnetic Radiation Recorders
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JR.
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Re: Entropy

Post by JR. »

emrr wrote: Fri Aug 03, 2018 8:00 am This week the trusty control room chair finally failed from metal fatigue, dropped me off to the rear and at an angle suddenly. Kinda funny in front of clients.

I had a relatively recent, but well used office chair fail in a similar fashion... (only funny to people not sitting in it at the time). I was able to find replacement parts for the first obvious break, but after replacing that part, I found more wrong (worn out) in the chair bottom structure. I ended up throwing it away, because it was quickly turning into a more expensive repair than just buying a brand new chair.

I hate disposable products but keep buying them... so I guess i don't hate them that much. :roll:

JR
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Gold
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Re: Entropy

Post by Gold »

JR. wrote: Fri Aug 03, 2018 10:30 am I hate disposable products but keep buying them... so I guess i don't hate them that much. :roll:
I am in general agreement but sometimes it's a good thing. I'm in the middle of building a bench PSU for my console modules. I'm using the Mean Well modules that Wayne tested. I'm tired of the rats nest of wires using HP bench supplies. My bench supplies are +/-20VDC and I need bipolar 15V and 24V. The Mean Well PSU's are cheap enough to be almost disposable.
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JR.
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Re: Entropy

Post by JR. »

Yup sometimes we have to remind ourselves how fast and how technology has advanced while we weren't paying attention.
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This disposable economy may only get worse before it gets better... transportation cost is likely to keep increasing so fixing heavy old products is already a loser. Imagine the cost to ship a 50# old iron power amp back across the country for factory repair when a new technology amp is only a few hundred dollars.

One contrary trend might be 3D printing of obscure repair parts, to facilitate repairs, but we aren't quite there yet.

JR
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